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Sharks coach Stuart Raper declared his side had exposed a number
of chinks in the Dragons' premiership armour last night in falling
just short of an upset most thought impossible against the 2005 NRL
title favourites.

Raper said the Dragons would have to improve markedly if they
are to take out this year's decider - and his St George Illawarra
counterpart Nathan Brown agreed.

"They will have to play better than they did tonight if they are
going to win the competition," said Raper, who admitted his side
was fired up by pre-game talk the WIN Stadium clash would be an
easy win for the home side.

"Going into semi-finals you know it is anyone's game and we
proved that tonight.

"We have been in the top eight all year and deserved to be in
the finals and all the talk that seven and eight [placed teams]
were going to be cannon fodder was disrespectful.

"It really got up the guys' noses."

Brown blamed nerves in the Dragons camp for their below-par
performance in the five-tries-to-four win that earned his side a
week off and ensured they are just one win away from their first
grand final appearance since 1999.

"We're not going to win the competition on that performance,"
Brown said. "We had to tough it out tonight, Cronulla really gave
it to us and it was a great contest.

"They put us under the pump but I thought we were far superior
when we controlled the ball and it was a great effort for us to
win."

The visitors led 6-0 after 14 minutes following a Beau Scott try
that was converted by Luke Covell, but didn't score again in the
half and only led 6-4 at the break after Colin Best touched down in
the 18th minute from a Trent Barrett cross-field kick.

The Sharks dominated much of the first half through strong
go-forward and tough, in-your-face defence that produced a number
of Dragons handling errors.

But a 10-minute blitzkrieg from the home side that produced
three tries - to Best, Dean Young and Michael Ennis - between the
48th and 58th minutes pushed the Dragons through to the preliminary
final in two weeks' time.

A late try to Paul Gallen after Nigel Vagana and Wes Naiqama
traded four-pointers gave the Sharks some hope of keeping their
season alive with two minutes left, but they couldn't manage the
upset win before 19,608 fans.

"They have been the form side but we surprised them a bit," said
Sharks skipper Brett Kimmorley, who produced one of the best games
of the season.

"For the majority of the game we were the better side."

Kimmorley, who has been granted special exemption for the coming
Tri-Nations series against New Zealand and Great Britain, has
played his last game of the season.

The Dragons again showed they have the ability to grind out a
win when needed but captain Barrett said they still have a lot of
work to do if they are to hold the premiership aloft on October
2.

"We showed we can hang in there," Barrett said.

"We've now got two weeks to finetune our game and there is a
great opportunity ahead of us."

Prop Jason Ryles suffered a back injury but expects to be fit
for the rest of the finals series.